


Bertiwain

by sampersand135



Category: King Arthur, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-13
Updated: 2021-02-14
Packaged: 2021-03-13 12:09:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 2,348
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29401758
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sampersand135/pseuds/sampersand135
Summary: Modern coffee shop au of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and other characters from Arthurian literature
Relationships: Sir Gawain/Lord Bertilak
Comments: 5
Kudos: 2





	1. Chapter 1

Monday, October 14 

Gawain looked nervously around the coffee shop. He scanned the sea of faces, though he wasn't sure what exactly he was looking for. He glanced back at his phone at the email he had received earlier that day.  
Meet me @ The Flying Swan @ 3:30 today ~Bert

When he looked up again he saw a guy waving frantically from a table at the back. “Gawain! Gawain! Over here!” he yelled. Gawain ducked his head in embarrassment as half the room turned to look at him. He walked quickly over to the table and dropped into his seat. The guy sitting at the table reached his hand out. “Hi!” he said. “I’m Bert!” Gawain wanted to roll his eyes. This guy seemed to end every sentence with an exclamation point, which Gawain thought was completely unnecessary on a Monday. Instead, he took a moment to look at the guy sitting across from him. The guy had shiny chestnut hair, full lips, and the greenest eyes he had ever seen. “H-hey, I mean hi, I guess. I’m Gawain,” he stammered. Bert grinned. 

“Hi Gawain. Nice to meet you. Welcome to Camelot High. Or really to the cafe across the street from Camelot High. But you know what I mean.” He chuckled. Gawain forced a laugh, hoping his face wasn’t bright red. When Gawain imagined his new student mentor, he pictured some dork with glasses and braces; someone no one else was friends with. All he could think about was the human equivalent of Bert from Sesame Street. He definitely wasn’t expecting him to be the cutest guy Gawain had ever seen. Gawain realized he’d been silent for an uncomfortable amount of time.

“So,” he said, trying to control his voice. “What made you decide to be a new student mentor?”

“I just like meeting new people. But also I imagine being the new kid is terrifying, so I wanted to help out. Plus, I think I’m just a pretty welcoming guy. Last year for junior superlatives, I was voted Most Welcoming, which is kinda lame, but whatever.”

“I don’t think it’s lame,” Gawain said. Bert smiled and blushed. What did that mean? Gawain thought to himself.

“Thanks,” Bert said. “I think you’re the only one. But hey, let me introduce everyone.” He pointed to the cash register at a girl with platinum blonde hair, who was scrolling through her phone. She seemed to be ignoring the girl waiting to order. 

“Over at the counter, the barista, that’s Lexi. She’s my girlfriend.” 

Gawain’s heart sank. Of course this guy had a girlfriend. He sighed.

“You good?” Bert asked.

“Yeahtotally,” Gawain said a little too quickly. Bert raised an eyebrow but didn’t press him. He turned in his seat. “See the girl talking to the guy with the red hair?” Gawain nodded. “That’s Gwen. She’s pretty much queen bee at Camelot. She’s dating Arthur. He’s captain of the football team.”

“Is that him, sitting across from her?” Gawain asked.

“God no. Arthur rarely comes in here. That’s Mel. He’s kind of obsessed with Gwen. She’s probably rejecting him again. She has to do it every few weeks or so, or he shows up at her house.”

“Yikes.”

“Seriously. But moving on. The goth girl waiting at the counter is Morgan. She’s Arthur’s half sister, but literally no one likes her. Don’t get on her bad side. No one knows how she does it, but she makes bad things happen to the people who she hates.”

“You can’t be serious,” Gawain said. But he watched as Lexi finally took Morgan’s order. Morgan twirled her inky hair around her finger as Lexi grabbed the handle of the milk frother. Steam shot out and hit Lexi in the face, causing her to drop the pitcher and dump hot milk on her feet. She shrieked, and Morgan smirked.

What was with the girls here? Gawain thought. He was starting to wish he had never transferred to Camelot–the girls here were nightmares.


	2. Chapter 2

Thursday, October 17

Three days had passed since Gawain had met with Bert, and he was really excited to see him again. He decided to get to The Flying Swan early and buy a drink. He was disappointed to see Lexi behind the counter. She smiled at him when he arrived.

“Hey Gawain,” she said, leaning forward and resting her elbows on the counter. She was wearing a low cut shirt that seemed inappropriate for a barista. Gawain quickly averted his eyes. 

“What can I get you?” 

“I’ll just have a latte with almond milk.”

Lexi nodded, but made no move to prepare his drink. Instead, she leaned closer to him and fluttered her eyelashes.

“Hey Gawain,” she said, biting her lip. “I feel so awkward asking but like, do you have a girlfriend? Obviously you haven’t asked anyone at Camelot High out yet–no one would ever turn you down. I mean, if they did, it wouldn’t really matter. You have ways to get what you want.” She placed her hand on Gawain’s bicep.

“I uh, I’m not sure what you mean,” Gawain said, stepping away.

“Don’t play dumb with me, Gawain.” She rolled her eyes. “Clearly you’re into me. I saw you looking at me from your table the other day. Don’t deny it.”

Gawain was starting to sweat. “Look, Lexi,” he began.

“Yes?” she fluttered her eyelashes again. Gawain steeled himself for what he had to say. “You seem like a really nice girl. But I’m just not interested. Plus, aren’t you dating Bert? He’s my only friend here. I couldn’t do that to him.”

Lexi rolled her eyes. “Your loss,” she said as she handed him something orange that definitely wasn’t a latte with almond milk.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
“So you finally met Lexi.”

“Yeah,” Gawain said tightly. He was tempted to tell Bert everything Lexi had said to him, but he didn’t want to upset his new friend. He held out a green tea latte. “She uh, she gave me this to give to you.”

“Thanks, man.”

“No problem, man,” Gawain mumbled.


	3. Chapter 3

Tuesday, October 22 

Gawain hadn’t seen Bert in almost a week, and Gawain found that he missed him. He knew that Bert wasn’t interested in him, but he still couldn’t help feeling a little spark of hope every time he saw him.

“How have classes been?” Bert asked as he slid into his seat.

“Not too bad. I know where all my classrooms are, which is nice.” Bert laughed, and Gawain felt something in his chest tighten. The feeling eased when a dark voice caught his attention. 

“Please take your disgusting behavior elsewhere, Gwen,” Morgan drawled. She was standing over Gwen, who was pressed up against a guy on the loveseat in the back of the cafe.

“Is that Arthur?” Gawain whispered, transfixed.

“No,” Bert whispered back. “That’s Lance. They like to come here to make out. Everyone except Arthur knows about it, but no one says anything.”

“Crawl back to your dungeon, freak,” Gwen said.

“Careful, Gwen. You wouldn’t want my brother to find out about your little situation with Lance here, would you.” Morgan pretended to inspect her long black nails. “Say, I think he’s on his way here now.”

Lance leapt up like the seat had burned him. At that moment, the door to the cafe burst open, and a guy with golden hair came in. He started waving and high-fiving people as he walked towards Gwen and Lance.

“That,” Bert groaned, “is Arthur.”

“Wow,” Gawain sighed. Bert scoffed.

“He’s not that impressive. He’s only popular because his dad Uther owns like half the buildings in this town and basically funds the football team. And don’t even bother trying to talk to him. He doesn’t like people like us.”

Gawain wasn’t sure what people like us meant. 

Gawain watched as Arthur approached Lance. He bro hugged him, clasping his hand and hitting him on the back. Lance returned the gesture, but Gawain saw the panic in his eyes. Soon after, the two boys walked out.

“Bye,” Arthur called as he walked out.

“Bye, baby,” Gwen called back, but the door had already closed. Gawain snorted. Gwen spun to look at him, eyes blazing.

“What are you looking at, fag?” she hissed.

Gawain flinched like he’d been slapped. “Nothing. I was just, just,” he spluttered.

“He was just looking at you being a whore, Gwen,” Morgan said. 

“Oh shut up, Morgan. This is your fault.”

“My fault?” Morgan said, feigning shock. “You were the one playing tonsil hockey with your boyfriend’s best friend. I was merely an observer.”

Gwen huffed and stormed out. Gawain turned back to Bert. He shifted uncomfortably in his seat, unable to meet Bert’s eyes.

“About what Gwen called you…” Bert said gently. “Is it true? I’ll still be your friend, no matter what.”

Gawain’s head snapped up. “Don’t fucking ‘no matter what’ me. That’s a bullshit phrase. It’s like saying what I am is wrong. Like it’s worse than being normal.” He stopped when Bert’s face broke into a massive grin. “And why are you smiling?”

“Because I was right. I figured from day one, but I wasn’t completely sure. Lexi constantly hitting on you was a test. Granted, I didn’t expect Gwen to say anything to you, but I’m kind of glad she did. I was nervous I was just deluding myself. I mean, I hoped it was true but I wasn’t sure.”

“Deluding yourself?” Gawain whispered.

“Yeah. I was scared you wouldn’t have feelings for me the way I did for you.”

Gawain could hardly believe what he was hearing. He didn’t know what to say, so instead, he leaned across the table and kissed Bert.


	4. Chapter 4

Friday, November 1

“Gwen’s back,” Gawain said, looking towards the back corner, where the queen bee of Camelot High often held court. “Who’s with her this time?”

Bert turned fully in his chair, still holding on to Gawain’s hand. “Oh no,” he groaned. “That’s Lanval. Poor kid.”

“I promise, I have a girlfriend. She’s real, her name is Fay. I have pictures of her,” a scrawny boy stammered. Gwen rolled her eyes. 

“If she’s so real, why is she never here?”

“She lives in Canada. That’s why you can’t meet her.”

“Suuure,” Gwen said. She picked up her phone and held it to her ear. “Hey baby...yeah. Come to The Flying Swan. Lanval is hitting on me...yes that Lanval...legit he keeps trying to touch me.”

“No, I’m not,” Lanval pleaded. Gwen ignored him. “Shut up,” she hissed. “Not you baby, not you,” she said into the phone. “See you soon.”

“Why are you doing this?” Lanval yelled.

“Because I think you’re a fag and a liar.”

“I’m not. Fay is real. She just lives in Canada.”

“Save it, fairy.”

Tense minutes passed, and every eye in the room was glued to Gwen and Lanval. After what felt like an eternity, Arthur burst through the door. 

“Where is he?” he roared.

“Over here, baby,” Gwen said, waving. Arthur stormed over.

“I promise, I didn’t touch her. I didn’t do anything. I have a girlfriend.” Lanval pleaded. Arthur didn’t hesitate. He punched Lanval squarely in the face. The boy crumpled like a rag doll. Everyone else in the room was motionless as Arthur kicked Lanval in the side. Everyone except for Gwen. She pulled out her phone and started an Instagram live video.  
“Oh my gawd. They’re literally fighting over me. I can’t bel-”

She was cut off as a dubstep remix of O Canada started playing loudly.

“It’s Fay,” Lanval wheezed from the floor. He reached for his phone and answered it. On the screen a pretty girl with a pixie cut appeared.

“Hey pumpkin. Nice surprise, eh? I was on my way out of Timmies cuz I wanted some Timbits, ya know? And I was like I should call Lanval. I haven’t seen him in a while, eh? So I ate my Timbits, and then I,” she paused. “Lanval, are you bleeding? What’s going on?”

No one breathed. The silence was broken as Arthur spoke, barely above a whisper. “She’s real?”

“Ya I’m real,” the girl yelled from the phone. Arthur slumped into a seat. 

“I’m so sorry, man. I’m so sorry. I didn’t know. Gwen said–but oh shit. You weren’t lying. She’s real. And I just–oh God.” He ran his hands through his hair. “I’m so sorry, man. Oh my God. Do you need an ambulance, man? What can I do?”

“I’ll call you back, love,” Lanval mumbled, before hanging up and putting his phone away. He looked at Arthur. “Just help me up.” 

Arthur helped Lanval into a chair and began to pace. “Shit, man. I can’t believe what I just did. I’m so sorry oh my God.” He whirled to look at Gwen. “This is your fault. You lied, you bitch. And for what? I just beat the shit out of this dude for nothing. Why did you lie to me?”

“I didn’t mean it. I thought it would be funny.” Gwen looked like a rabbit caught in the headlights.

Arthur’s lip curled with disgust. “What, did he not worship you like the rest of them? Are you so vain that you need every single person to be falling at your feet? But when they do you reject them. You’re a monster. We’re done.” He walked out, supporting Lanval as he limped beside him. Gwen started to cry, and everyone averted their eyes. No one could look at her.

“Holy shit,” Gawain whispered.

“Seriously,” Bert replied.

“Why are women awful? Literally all of them. Lexi was a manipulative flirt. No offense.”

“None taken.”

“Morgan hurt people who she didn’t like, and Gwen...Gwen was a monster. She set people against each other because she always needed everyone to desire her. And she lashed out against anyone who didn’t. This is why men are clearly better.”

“Indeed,” Bert said, raising his coffee cup. Gawain touched it with his own. “That’s why I chose you.”

Gawain smiled and leaned across the table to kiss his boyfriend.


End file.
